This invention relates in general to toilets and, more specifically, to high efficiency self cleaning toilets.
A wide variety of toilets having various features have been developed over the years. Many attempts have been made to reduce the amount of water required for flushing, in order to reduce water consumption and to reduce the quantity of water going to sewer treatment facilities. Others have designed toilets which extract air from the toilet bowl during use to avoid unpleasant odors. Devices have been added to toilets to comminute solid waste to reduce flushing water requirements and sewer clogging problems. Toilet seats incorporating resistance heating elements to warm the seat on cold days have been conceived. Attempts have been made to refine toilet bowl and seat design to reduce manual cleaning requirements and improve sanitation.
Despite these varied features and design ideas, almost all toilets presently in use in homes and businesses are of the standard type which uses gravity flow of several gallons of water from an elevated tank to flush the toilet and which retain a quantity of water in the bowl to seal the outlet to the sewer. None of the individual convenience features mentioned above have come into widespread use.
Thus, there is a continuing need for improved toilets providing greater efficiency in water use, greater convenience and improved sanitation.